Hidden Oneonta

[Nwcanyoning]

Used to take the landslide area down without ropes. This time I brought one and used it.

[ssinfo503]

How recent was this? I thought Oneonta is still closed.

[adamschneider]

How recent was this? I thought Oneonta is still closed.

Oneonta Gorge -- the slot canyon near the Historic Highway -- is closed. This looks like it's from further upstream.

[Nwcanyoning]

Correct, this is between the closed slot canyon and Triple Falls.

[bobcat]

For those unfamiliar, the falls in the photos are the real Oneonta Falls, as opposed to Middle Oneonta Falls at the bridge above the gorge and Lower Oneonta Falls at the head of the gorge (the latter still closed).

[Sore Feet]

For those unfamiliar, the falls in the photos are the real Oneonta Falls, as opposed to Middle Oneonta Falls at the bridge above the gorge and Lower Oneonta Falls at the head of the gorge (the latter still closed).

Actually no, the falls at the head of Oneonta Gorge itself is the proper Oneonta Falls. The USGS has had it mislabeled for a long, long time. The gorge and falls at its head were named in 1849 by Carleton Emmons Watkins who became a well known photographer of the American west after the California Gold Rush.

There are photographs dating back to (at least) Samuel Lancaster's original version of The Columbia: America's Great Highway published in 1915 that captioned it "The Falls of Oneonta", and considering the trails above the falls probably didn't exist before the highway was constructed, it's less likely the one the USGS marks incorrectly as Oneonta Falls was known by that name at that point (if it was known by any names at all). I haven't seen any of Watkins' photos of the falls but I suspect they still exist somewhere out there too.

The mixup is almost certainly due to mapping errors when the 1:100,000 scale USGS maps were updated to 1:24,000 scale and there wasn't clarity about which feature the name applied to.

[bobcat]

Thanks for tracking down this (very probable) error, Bryan. I will totally defer to your research here and make the requisite name changes to the Field Guide!